This main page
was last updated on 28 June 2015. All other pages are independent of this one and are updated
more frequently. The pages marked below with "NEW" have been
updated since 1 June 2015.

Hopefully you are hearing music right now and if you are wondering what music you are listening to--it is called
"Whaler Song" and was probably played aboard old whaling ships.

"WELCOME TO MY WEB SITE"

Having
been New York born, a Firefighter/EMT, and a Veteran I want to show my
support for all those affected by the events on 11 September 2001.

Whenever I am home I raise my Colors. Following the
World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks a photo appeared in many places of the
firefighters raising the Colors at what has come to be called Ground Zero in
New York City. Thomas E. Franklin, staff photographer for "The Record" in Bergen
County, New Jersey took this amazing photo and I want to post it here so I hope I don't
get into any trouble for doing so. This photo has certainly captured their
patriotism.

Before I go any further I would like to invite you to visit a
very special site dedicated to the thousands of men and women affected by 11
September 2001. Please go to We Will Never Forget sponsored by the Kenilworth Veterans Center and VFW Post 2230 in Kenilworth, NJ.
Unfortunately the TRIBUTE page is not always up as they claim it costs to much
to keep it active all the time.

I
am doing some more editing on my remaining two domain sites. You can now visit me
here or at Colonel Maggie but Tales and Whales Publishing
will be going offline although most of the info on that site will be moved over
to this one soon. I'm trying to cut down on my workload so please bear with me
as I make these changes--thanks. Hopefully there will be
no duplications when I'm finished. Meanwhile please keep coming back here to find out what
I'm doing. AND please visit LangMarc Publishing
which owns my first two books.

Simply click on the topics so that you can visit the pages that are ready for your viewing. Briefly each
topic page is as follows:

I have broken down my IN MEMORY pages so they
would load quicker for you. I have also added (or am adding) info about the women who served
during our earlier wars--

IN MEMORY-- is dedicated to some of the women
and men I have known who have
died.

IRAQ-- is dedicated to the American women who died while
serving our country in Iraq or near-by countries during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

AFGHANISTAN-- is dedicated to the American women who died while
serving our country in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

OTHER AREAS-- is dedicated to the American women who died while serving our country in
other areas of the world since Desert Storm and 11 September 2001.

THE PENTAGON-- is dedicated to all the American women (and one man who I personally knew) who died
when a plane hit The Pentagon on
11 September 2001.

OKC-- is dedicated to the American women who died
when a bomb blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995.

DESERT STORM--
is dedicated to the American women who died during the Gulf War
of 1990-1991.

VIETNAM-- is dedicated to the American women who died while
serving our country in Vietnam.

EARLIER WARS--
is dedicated to the American women who died during the Korean War,
World War II, World War I, Spanish-American War and Civil War.

SCHEDULE--
is my
TENTATIVE TRAVEL
SCHEDULE for the next year. If your
interested in requesting my services please contact me.

BOOKS
-- are those that I have read and think that everyone should read to learn more
about the women or men who have served our country. I've written reviews about
several of these books and they are now available for you to read.

MOVIES--
are those that I have seen--though
many are fictional in nature--they are somewhat based on fact. I've also written
reviews about some of these movies and they are now available for you to read
also.

BUDDY SEARCH-- lists people that either other people or myself are looking
for. If you are searching for someone, let me know and I'll add you to my listing. If you find a friends name already listed, let me know how to reach
them.

BOOKSTORE-- selected books that you might want to purchase.
Some of them are mine while others are available through Amazon as I'm in association
with them:

ORDERS-- you can print out
this order form to get autographed copies of my books direct from me.

AWARDS-- you can see the awards I've received
both personally and online for my website.

POW-MIA-- is one of my other passions, keeping up on the POW-MIA
issues. Here you will also find information about some of those folks who are still unaccounted for.

LANGMARC PUBLISHING--
is where you'll find more inspirational books, non-fiction books, novels,
children books, and young adult books.

PHOTOS-- are pictures of events I've been to,
some of my friends, some Veterans I know, my tribute to the cast of "Tour of Duty,"
my homes, my pets, etc.

NOW--if you don't know me, I am a woman who just happens to be a retired Army Reserve
First Sergeant. I share my experiences and expertise in researching,
writing, finding a publisher, and "hitting the road" with my books Memories
of Maggie--Martha Raye: A Legend Spanning Three Wars, Potpourri Of War:
Labors of Love Remembered, The Sarge's Thoughts: Volume I thru VI, Mom Wears Combat Boots,
Dad Wears
Combat Bootsand Women At Risk: We Also Served.

I communicated with Maggie from 1988 until her death in 1994. I
came to know and love her. I was privileged to visit her several times in her
Bel Air, California home, where I enjoyed her comments as we watched her old
movies and television programs together. I listened to her stories,
reminisced, and visited with this remarkable woman about her beloved frontline
soldiers.

Both in my book Memories of Maggie (which I sometimes
refer to as MOM) and during some of my
speaking engagements I paint a picture of the most intriguing woman of our time.
A superb jazz singer, Martha Raye's comedic genius and her brilliant acting will
long be remembered. But her most awesome gift was her devotion to entertaining
frontline soldiers in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. She donned fatigues and
a Green Beret. She would head into territory where no other civilian would
consider visiting. She had a photographic memory for recognizing each soldier
years after meeting him or her.

My book centers on the woman I came to know as Maggie and her
personal mission with the troops rather than on her chaotic personal life. I
compiled pictures offered by hundreds of Maggie's admirers and collected stories
about this endearing woman. Some of those pictures can be found by visiting Colonel Maggie or reading my books.

Memories of Maggiecovers her entire life from birth to
death. It talks about her family life, stage performances, radio, movies,
records, albums, TV shows, and most of all her devotion (regardless of branch,
rank, gender, religion, or ethnic background) to our Armed Forces personnel. It
also discusses the long, tedious process it took the committee I spearheaded to
get the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to her. You can learn more about
her by visiting Colonel Maggie where there are many
links to other sites devoted to her.

Meanwhile if you are interested in an autographed copy of my
book go to Orders to
find out how. If you would like to schedule me to address your group go to
Schedule
to see my Tentative Travel Schedule then just send me an e-mail by clicking here.

I travel quite a bit so I can't always be reached by phone but
you can reach me by e-mail here.

If you knew Maggie please e-mail me here your memories of this great
American patriot.

Many people asked if I would write another book. My answer was
"Yes" I would. As a matter of fact my second book Potpourri Of War (which
I sometimes refer to as POW) was released by LangMarc Publishing in 1998. It was kicked off officially on
Flag Day (14 June 1998) in Massachusetts following the groundbreaking for
the Seekonk Vietnam Veterans Memorial ceremony. During that kickoff POW sold more books
in one hour than two of the New York Times
best sellers did during that whole week in the Seekonk/Providence, Rhode Island area.
I think that's quite an accomplishment.

Potpourri Of War includes some of the things I had to
cut from Memories of Maggie (that is one reason LangMarc agreed to
publish it) as well as my experiences since MOM was released. It shows how
Maggie changed my life and includes some historical facts about other "not-so-famous" people who worked with the USO-Red Cross-Special Services that you
can learn about. There is also information in it about the Women in Military
Service to America (WIMSA) Memorial dedication, the Gold Star Mothers, the Kent
State shootings, Vietnam, what it took to get MOM published and
promoted, as well as many other women and men who served our
country.

AND silly me, I wrote a third book: The Sarge's Thoughts: Volume
I
released in March 1999. It is only available from them or direct from me. It contains
articles that I wrote during 1998. Since then I've had Volume II - V
published. They are available direct from me. They contain articles I wrote between 1999 and 2005. These
volumes came about thanks to Dale Smith, the webmaster of several websites,
who suggested that I put the articles that I have written for one of his sites,
newspapers, magazines, etc into a book for others to read who might not normally
see my writings.

I completed two children's books, Mom Wears
Combat Boots and its twin Dad Wears Combat Boots and one about women who served since World War
I that is titled
Women At Risk: We Also Served (which I sometimes refer to as
WAR). All of these books are available and
you can get them autographed as well direct from me.

The children's books are written in a simple manner for kids
5-10 years of age to explain a little about patriotism, family history, military equipment and
training, and how it all affects families. The books are identical except for
the covers, dedication page, and the wording changed from Mom to Dad. THESE BOOKS WOULD
BE GREAT GIFTS FROM ANY PARENT OR GRANDPARENT TO SHARE WITH THEIR CHILDREN AND
GRANDCHILDREN. Comments from American Legion personnel, retired and active
military personnel, and former Congressmen
about these books have been very good.

Women At Risk profiles more than 60 women who served our
country either in the military or as civilians during peace and/or war time. This is
the first time many of them shared their experiences, some
funny--some sad. It is an opportunity to read about some of the things they did and
the places they went. This is available direct from me and can be autographed copies.

Meanwhile, in my very little spare time, I'm working
on several things including my own autobiography, another book about my travels and the people I've met along the way,
and possibly another book about more women I've met who have served our country
and maybe Colonel Maggie in between my speaking
engagements.

Over the Christmas '97 holidays, I was approached to write
a column online under the name of "The Sarge" on one of Dale Smith's sites. It is hard to believe I'd been writing that
column for more than eight years.

People have said Memories of Maggieneeds national
attention and publicity. Likewise, Potpourri Of War and Women
At Risk should have it too. If you know how I can get some, please
let me know. Unfortunately I
don't have an agent or publicists. Any ideas will be
welcomed--just drop me an email message.

Please check back often to see the changes I've made.

I

f you like the icons and graphics on my pages you can contact The Clip
Art Warehouse. Their button is below. They offer free clip art to
everyone.

I also borrowed some from other sites with the webowners permission of course. You can find those sites by visiting my
Links page for Graphics.